January 2016 - Hello babies!

[Nousername2015]

Thread to share our experiences and also have a chat to someone also dealing with lively babies at 3am!

[Elvi1]

Horrah! Nocturnal posting can commence.....

[oneconfusedchick]

Not in this club yet but hoping to be any day now! Due 26th x

[tinyme135]

LO is 1 week old already can't believe how fast it's gone. DP has been amazing letting me sleep at night while he looks after him. hope everyone is coping great. love to hear from everyone :)

[anneliandbetsy]

Anyone else feel like they've been run over by a bus? X

[anneliandbetsy]

Nips are on fire. X

[Nousername2015]

anneli yes, and yes. I can just about go to the loo now without wanting to scream and the evening cluster feeds are killing my boobs!

[Elvi1]

I'm finding it difficult to gauge how much pain I should be in post 'natural' birth. The recovery from c-secs tends to be discussed more and imo it's seems that woman are better informed as to what to expect in terms of how much they can do, the recovery time etc, but I realise now that I'm in pain getting up and about that none of the antenatal classes I went to told me how we might feel after giving birth virginally other than 'you'll feel sore'. That's a blimmin understatement! For me, it's terribly painful to get up and down out of bed/off sofa/in and out bath, walking around (I feel a painful pressure around my rectum, or maybe it's my perinium??). Would love to go for walk but no way is that possible now! Anyone else in a lot of pain and how long should it feel like this? Unfortunately I got a second degree perinium tear and required stitches so that might be the main reason why I'm finding it so tough, but be interested to know how others feel.

[Nousername2015]

How old is your baby elvi? I also had a 2nd degree tear and stitches. Is only now after 11 days that I would describe things as sore rather than painful.

[Elvi1]

Only 2 days - well 3 now he was born Thursday lunchtime. So sounds like what I'm experiencing is normal then?

[Nousername2015]

God yes! Keep popping those paracetamol. It will get better soon i promise. Have you got some lactulose? I've found I've needed it.

[lilyb84]

Congrats Elvi, did you spend any time on the postnatal ward? If so we may have overlapped as I only left yesterday evening!

Glad you got the birth you wanted, I'm officially in awe of anyone who does it without pain relief.

Second night home and have finally got my boy to bf!! It was so stressful that he wouldn't before but milk coming in has made all the difference.

I am now however mid-cluster feed and praying for some sleep soon!!

[Nousername2015]

Cluster feeding here too! And googling when I can start expressing for evening feeds...

[cheeseandcrackers]

Hello - can I join? Currently feeding 9 day old ds2 and desperately hoping tonight is the night he decides to sleep for more than ten minutes in his moses basket. I've spent the last few nights holding him on the sofa as I can't put him down and it's killing me...

[Elvi1]

cheeseandcrackers same here - our baby just won't sleep in his crib, and will only sleep in our arms! Yesterday we finally got him into his crib at 4am after nursing him all night, and he slept until 9am so felt fine this morning. No such luck tonight...he just won't go down. we have tried everything - swaddling, music, feeding, changing - DH rocked him in the crib for a whole hour and everytime he stopped the baby woke up. he will only fall asleep in our arms. I knew I'd be feeding regularly all day and night, but I hadn't considered what would happen if he didn't want to be put down at all. I hope to god that once my milk comes in (still colostrum at the mo) that maybe he will settle more. If you find a solution, please let me know. Currently sitting here with him in my arms having tried to put him down for the 100th time tonight!

nousername that's good to know - it makes things so much more difficult being in pain and not being able to move around freely.

lily so we did end up being in Kings at the same time?! I didn't make it to the postnatal ward - they let us go straight from the midwife led suite we were in. Glad the bf is going well!

I hope my milk comes in soon - my breast feel like they are hardening so hopefully this means my boy will be able to get at some soon.

[lilyb84]

Sounds promising elvi - I had the same yesterday and milk seems to be coming in now. Have you tried a hot water bottle in his crib to warm it up before you pop him back in? I'm having some success with that! Tried co-sleeping earlier tonight as he wouldn't go down but was just too paranoid, thankfully he went down - and u must have slept through my alarm for his next feed as woke up at ten to 6 instead of 5! So thankful he's breastfeeding now, I was getting very stressed about it.

I went into King's on Tues on and left Fri on so yes, we were just a floor away from each other on Thurs. How funny! You missed nothing on the postnatal ward, so glad to be home now

cheese hope you've had some more sleep tonight! I'm still running on about ten hours in the last week in total but it's amazing how much difference even an hour or two here and there is making. Nap when you can! (I plan on following my own advice today around family visits...)

[Nousername2015]

DS wouldn't go down the first few nights and I ended up co sleeping with him. He seemed to settle a lot better once my milk came in, otherwise we just persevered and kept putting him down after feeds. A few things that helped us was to keep the landing light on so the room wasn't pitch black, a white noise app and putting a towel under the head of his mattress to elevate it slightly. We also bought a gro snug which is about a million times easiervthan swaddling. Hope you've all managed a bit of shut eye, these first few days are so tough!

[anneliandbetsy]

I'm the same second degree Perenium tear and an external tear. Bum pressure and general muscle pain is awful. Bleeding is gross.

How long would you ladies say it took for milk to come in? My tits are going to fall off - I'm rubbing lansinoh on like there's no tomorrow. She's only actually only 30 hours old so I'm expecting a few more days until it properly comes in?. We came home at 6 last night. Every time she does a big meconium poo she crys and i feel so sorry for her :(

[cheeseandcrackers]

My milk came in on day three. Think I might be struggling with supply issues though. As DS feeds for most of the night, he needs feeding to calm him back down after every failed attempt to put him down in the moses basket, by about 4:30am he's screaming for a feed but there just doesn't seem to be any milk left so he just gets more cross and frustrated. Midwives suggested giving him expressed milk then but I can't seem to get any out.

Hope you managed to get some sleep Elvi, I have tried all the white noise/hot water bottle/ raised head/muslin smelling of me suggestions but none have worked. I ended up co-sleeping from about 4 but don't like doing it as I can't really sleep like that anyway.

[lilyb84]

elvi hope you managed some sleep! Also have you had a mw visit yet? Stayed in all day yesterday as advised, called the community midwives at 4pm as advised but of course the office was closed, called the labour ward as our going-home notes instructed only to be told grumpily to 'give them some time' as the midwives were still out until 6pm, but nothing. I don't mind waiting of course and I know it's a weekend but after 3 days of postnatal ward hell I'm getting tired of being told so many different things!

[tinyme135]

I got a second degree tear too and the pressure of sitting standing walking going to the toilet was horrendous. it's been 8 days now and it just feel uncomfortable but it's still sore to go for a number 1.

I don't want to jinx it but our little one wakes up every 3 hours or so and is only up about half an hour then falls back asleep. it's a dream. I've probably spoke too soon.

I'm also fed up with visitors and my MIL keep coming round uninvited and picking up my ds like she owns him. We're going out for a meal tomorrow for FIL birthday and how much do you want a bet when he needs feeding when out she'll take over.

[Nousername2015]

Our nct teacher told us to lean forward on the loo for a number 1, it really works!

[Elvi1]

tiny- he's your baby, be firm with mil.

lily - well my postnatal care has been transferred to Croydon because I'm just outside of the caption area for kings (literally across the road!) and I was amazed that the transition worked and a lovely mw turned up yesterday. However, they don't come again until Tuesday. It's a bit naughty that no-one has turned that no-one has been round yet - my mum was saying today that someone should be popping in every other day at least as some new mums find it difficult to cope. Things are very changable...I had a literally NO sleep last night, but did manage 2 hours sleep at 8am this morning, but another night like this I think I will be at the end of my tether tomo and a mw visit would be welcome. I hope you are doing ok - fingers crossed someone will call in to see you tomorrow. Don't need a grumpy voice basically telling you to be patient - sounds like you are coping ok but an unsympathetic response like that could send someone who is struggling over the edge.

cheese - no progress last night - infact as you would have read above, our night was awful and worse than the night before which I realise now was pretty good! However he did go down in crib for couple of hours this morning at 8am! He was out of his swaddle at that point and just had a blanket wrapped around him. We've tried putting him in pram basket today as much as pos so not holding him constantly - tried putting him down both awake and asleep and either way he starts crying after a minute so we have to comfort him again. Not sure if this is progress as its not a nighttime solution but he's actually sleeping on sofa now with no arms wrapped around him. He's wedged between cushions (obvs no where near his face) so this must make him feel more secure. Unfortunately, we can't recreate this in his crib as guidance says we can't put anything in with him.

On a positive note, I think my milk is coming in - spotted some watery white stuff on nipple this morning. No just need to get it established. Latching correctly is a bit hit and miss at the moment.

It's very early days for us hey, so hopefully our feeding/sleeping routines will get better soon.

Sounds like a few of us suffered tears - reassuring to know what I'm feeling is normal. I am dreading the first bowl movement! Best get on the prune juice!

[anneliandbetsy]

Good tip on the forward leaning!!

[firsttimemum15]

I can relate to all of this. Was due early Jan but bab came late Dec. Can I join in?

[Elvi1]

Sure firsttimemum - welcome